Presentation for the AECT National Conference (2015) on the results of a pilot study investigating the use of digital media in teacher preparation to improve teacher dialogue and communication skills.

1. USING DIGITAL MEDIA TO
IMPROVE CLASSROOM
INSTRUCTION
DERRICK MEARS, PH.D.
UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
SESSION HANDOUTS: WWW.TINYURL.COM/DERRICKMEARS
TWITTER:@MEARSDR

2. THE TALE OF A PILOT STUDY
Research Questions:
• Does using the audio and video functions of
Google Glass to record and analyze dialogue
between teachers and students:
• Improve teachers ability to provide more
specific behavioral feedback to students?
• Improve teachers ability to provide more
specific instructional feedback to students?

3. THE TALE OF A PILOT STUDY
Research Questions:
• Does using the audio and video functions of
Google Glass to record and analyze dialogue
between teachers and students:
• Improve teachers ability to provide more
effective instructional communication?
• Improve teachers ability to assess learning
through more effective questioning?

4. THE TALE OF A PILOT STUDY
Research Questions:
• Does using the audio and video functions
of Google Glass to record and analyze
dialogue between teachers and students:
• Improve teachers overall
communication skills when providing
instruction?

5. THE TALE OF A PILOT STUDY
Issues Related to the Glass
Platform:
• Difficulties with band-width and
streaming long duration video
• Issues related to cameras and images in
school settings
• Cloud based storage and issues with
cameras and images in school settings

6. THE TALE OF A PILOT STUDY
Issues Related to the Glass Platform:
And of Course!

7. THE TALE OF A PILOT STUDY
Thus Plan B:
• Investigate the variables using other
types of mobile and portable technology
• The Plan B backup systems became the
Plan A
• Also allowed the investigation of other
types of variables

8. USING DIGITAL MEDIA TO IMPROVE
CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
Methods-Pilot Study # 1:
• 7 students enrolled in two undergraduate
teacher education courses.
• Students were seniors in the last year of their
undergraduate program prior to their
internship.
• Part of a larger on-going study
•Dialogue recordings over a three year period
•Year one analysis

9. USING DIGITAL MEDIA TO IMPROVE
CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
Methods-Pilot Study # 1:
• Middle School Methods Course
•Training and practice sessions on coding
dialogue and the instrument
•Performed dialogue assessments on two 15
minute peer teaches
•Role play embedded into the class

10. USING DIGITAL MEDIA TO IMPROVE CLASSROOM
INSTRUCTION
Methods-Pilot Study # 1:
• Middle School Practicum
• Performed dialogue assessments on two 15 minute teaches
performed in the school setting
• 6th grade students
• Taught a total of four mini-teaches throughout the course of
the semester.
• Analyzed the first and fourth of these teaches.
• Course taken in conjunction with Middle School Methods

11. USING DIGITAL MEDIA TO IMPROVE
CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
Instrumentation:
• Improve teachers ability to provide more specific
behavioral feedback to students?
• Behavioral Feedback:
• General Praise- reinforcement of student behavior that does
not address the behavior
• “Good job”
• Specific Praise- reinforcement of student behavior that
addresses the specific behavior
• “I appreciate you getting into your groups so quickly”

12. USING DIGITAL MEDIA TO IMPROVE
CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
Instrumentation:
• Improve teachers ability to provide more specific
behavioral feedback to students?
• Behavioral Feedback:
• General Criticism- addressing of student behavior that does
not address the behavior
• “Quiet, Shhhh”
• Specific Praise- reinforcement of student behavior that
addresses the specific behavior
• “Fred I need you not to talk to Sally while I am giving
instruction”

13. USING DIGITAL MEDIA TO IMPROVE
CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
Instrumentation:
• Improve teachers ability to provide more specific
instructional feedback to students?
• Instructional Feedback:
• Positive General- reinforcement of student performance of skills or
tasks that does not address components of the specific task
• “Great answer”
• Positive Specific- reinforcement of student performance of skills or
tasks that specifically addresses a component of correct
performance,
• “Great analysis of that question you summarized the key components
of the story plot well”

14. USING DIGITAL MEDIA TO IMPROVE
CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
Instrumentation:
• Improve teachers ability to provide more specific
instructional feedback to students?
• Instructional Feedback:
• Corrective General- correcting student performance of skills or
tasks that does not address components of the specific task
• “Almost there!”
• Corrective Specific- correcting student performance of skills or
tasks that specifically provides feedback to improve the correct
performance of the task,
• “You are on the right track with this one! Perhaps take a look
at your calculation of the dominator"

15. USING DIGITAL MEDIA TO IMPROVE
CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
Instrumentation:
• Improve teachers ability to provide more
effective instructional communication?
•Instructional Communication:
•Instruct-dialogue in which descriptions of
activities, skills or content
•Reinforce-dialogue during the lesson where
content from previous lessons/progressions is
re-described

16. USING DIGITAL MEDIA TO IMPROVE
CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
Instrumentation:
• Improve teachers ability to provide more
effective instructional communication?
•Instructional Communication:
•Reinstruct-dialogue where the content
presented previously in the lesson is re-
explained.
•Extend-dialogue where the original activities,
skills, content are built upon with additional
modifications or extensions

17. USING DIGITAL MEDIA TO IMPROVE
CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
Instrumentation:
• Improve teachers ability to provide more
effective instructional communication?
•Assessing Learning (Student Questioning):
• General Behavioral-questions asked to students that are
general in nature or are related to modifying specific
behavior
• Specific Content-questions asked to students that are
specific to the content being presented and reinforce
the learning targets/cues of the lesson

18. USING DIGITAL MEDIA TO IMPROVE
CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
Instrumentation:
• Improve teachers ability to provide more
effective instructional communication?
•Assessing Learning (Student Questioning):
• Low Engagement Questions-responses or checks for
comprehension were obtained from 25% or fewer of the
students in the class.
• High Engagement Questions-responses or checks for
comprehension were obtained from 50% or greater of
the students in the class

19. USING DIGITAL MEDIA TO IMPROVE
CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
Instrumentation:
• Improve teachers overall communication skills
when providing instruction?
•Filler Communication:
•Dialogue not related to instruction but provides
“filler”
• “Like”, “um”, “ah”, “uh”

20. USING DIGITAL MEDIA TO IMPROVE
CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
Overall Dialogue
Statements
Total Statements
Coded
Percentage
Difference
Recording # 1 150
Recording # 2 136 -10%

21. USING DIGITAL MEDIA TO IMPROVE CLASSROOM
INSTRUCTION
Behavioral Feedback
15%
Instructional
Feedback
22%
Instructional
Communication
40%
Assessing Learning
10%
Filler
13%
Percentage of Dialogue Statements-# 1
Behavioral Feedback
Instructional Feedback
Instructional Communication
Assessing Learning
Filler

22. USING DIGITAL MEDIA TO IMPROVE CLASSROOM
INSTRUCTION
Behavioral Feedback
15%
Instructional
Feedback
20%
Instructional
Communication
42%
Assessing Learning
12%
Filler
11%
Percentage of Dialogue Statements-# 2
Behavioral Feedback
Instructional Feedback
Instructional Communication
Assessing Learning
Filler

23. USING DIGITAL MEDIA TO IMPROVE CLASSROOM
INSTRUCTION
Behavioral Feedback
Praise
(General)
Praise
(Specific)
Criticism
(General)
Criticism
(Specific)
R1-AVG 7 2 4 9
R2-AVG 4 1 5 10
Difference -3 -1 1 1
R1-AVG-T 5% 1% 3% 6%
R2-AVG-T 3% 1% 4% 8%
Overall 15%
15%

24. USING DIGITAL MEDIA TO IMPROVE CLASSROOM
INSTRUCTION
Instructional Feedback
Positive
(General)
Positive
(Specific)
Corrective
(General)
Corrective
(Specific)
R1AVG 6 5 6 16
R2-AVG 5 5 5 12
Difference -1 0 -1 -4
R1-AVG-T 4% 3% 4% 11%
R2-AVG-T 4% 3% 4% 9%
Overalls 22%
20%

25. USING DIGITAL MEDIA TO IMPROVE CLASSROOM
INSTRUCTION
Instructional Dialogue Introduction Review Reteach Extensions
R1AVG 40 6 9 6
R2-AVG 40 5 5 6
Difference 0 -1 -4 0
R1-AVG-T 27% 4% 6% 4%
R2-AVG-T 29% 4% 4% 4%
Overall 40%
41%

26. USING DIGITAL MEDIA TO IMPROVE CLASSROOM
INSTRUCTION
Subject
Questions
(General)
Questions
(Specific)
Low Engagement
(<25%)
High Engagement
(>50%)
R1AVG 7 8 14 1
R2-AVG 10 7 13 2
Difference 3 -1 -1 1
R1-AVG-T 5% 5% 9% 0%
R2-AVG-T 7% 5% 10% 2%
Overalls 10% 10%
12% 11%

27. USING DIGITAL MEDIA TO IMPROVE CLASSROOM
INSTRUCTION
Filler Communication Filler Words
R1AVG 20
R2-AVG 16
Difference -4
R1-AVG-T 12%
R2-AVG-T 11%
Overalls 12%
11%

28. THE TALE OF A PILOT STUDY
Research Questions:
• Does using digital audio in teacher preparation:
• Improve teachers ability to provide more specific
behavioral feedback to students?
• More specific criticism statements (+2%)
• Less general praise (-2%) but not more specific praise
• Improve teachers ability to provide more specific
instructional feedback to students?
• Types of instructional feedback remained unchanged
• Slight decrease in corrective specific feedback (-2%)

29. THE TALE OF A PILOT STUDY
Research Questions:
• Does using digital audio in teacher preparation:
• Improve teachers ability to provide more effective
instructional communication?
• Provided slightly more instructional statements (2%)
• Had slightly fewer re-teach statements (-2%)
• Improve teachers ability to assess learning through
more effective questioning?
• Asked slightly more questions overall (+2%)
• Asked slightly more questions which engage more
students (+2%)

30. THE TALE OF A PILOT STUDY
Research Questions:
• Does using digital audio in teacher preparation:
• Improve teachers overall communication
skills when providing instruction?
•Slight decrease in number of filler statements
(-1%)
•Decrease in number of re-teach statements
(2%)

31. THE TALE OF A PILOT STUDY
Next Steps:
• Analysis of data from additional years to see if a
clearer impact manifests
• Investigate other forms of media for data
collection as a replacement for Glass platform
• Collect and analyze qualitative data as students
graduate and progress into teaching.
• Analysis Instrument

32. THANKS FOR
ATTENDING!
USING DIGITAL MEDIA TO
IMPROVE CLASSROOM
INSTRUCTION
DERRICK MEARS, PH.D.
UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
SESSION HANDOUTS: WWW.TINYURL.COM/DERRICKMEARS
TWITTER:@MEARSDR